Coffee and Corduroy
by mintsknowsall
Summary: Jeanne didn't want a girlfriend. Ever. But when your best friend tries to set you up for four years, he has to succeed at some point, right? Margot just wanted to get through university unnoticed. But what happens when her inability to say no lands her a date with a snarky French girl? The absolutely true story behind Trost Univeristy's favorite dorks.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N:** Hi, so sorry I've been gone for so long! But I'm back, and this will be updated often so stick around. Everyone is genderbent except Armin and Reiner. (It was originally only just going to be Armin but then I forgt to genderbend Reiner and was too lazy to fix it so, whatever). I hope you enjoy!_

* * *

Jeanne never thought she'd actually go to university. Sure she dreamed about it as a kid, and even some in high school; but it had always seemed like this unattainable goal, something she could never achieve no matter how hard she tried. Still there she was, standing on the campus of Trost University, duffel hanging on her shoulder, camera around her neck. She'd made it. It still didn't quite seem real to her, but it was.

Unfortunately, Trost had an enormous campus, and she had no idea where she was going. She'd been assigned to Dorm Maria, that much she was sure of, but she had no clue how to get there. It wasn't late, only half past noon, and she figured maybe if she just wandered around long enough she'd find it.

Admittedly that idea had sounded much better two hours ago, but she was going to stick with it, because there was no way she was asking for directions. The map was of absolutely no help (everything on it was wrong, she wondered why they even bothered giving it to students, probably just to mess with them, bastards) and was now wandering blindly around campus. She thought she was close to the dorm buildings at least, but she couldn't be sure. Armin had probably found his dorm by now, seeing as he was good at finding things, and of course, the universe wasn't conspiring against him.

Oh, I might have forgotten to mention this, but Jeanne is cursed, or at least that's what she believes. When she was nine, her grandmère told her a story about how her great great oncle had been a very poor man, willing to do anything for money. One night, he'd stumbled across a gypsy who promised him great fortune if he would give her a place to stay for a bit. He of course, accepted, but when he found out she had no money to offer him, he stole her horse as payment. He sold it the next day. When the gypsy found out what he'd done she placed a curse upon him and his family, claiming that he would forever rue the day he stole the horse. Now Jeanne, as a nine year old, believed this; and that belief stayed alive due to paranoia and a need to blame something for her troubles. She blamed her great great oncle for a lot of things. She knew in the back of her mind that they weren't actually his fault, but she blamed him anyway. She blamed him for her parents ignoring her. She blamed him for her social ineptitude. She even blamed him for her experiences with her first (and to this day only) girlfriend. She knew vaguely that she only blamed him because in the long run with her experiences it was better for her to blame a story than to accept that she was completely at fault for fucking up her life. She knew she wouldn't be able to deal with that.

By the time she'd been wandering around for three hours she'd found the places where most of her classes were going to be held, which she supposed was good, but she still hadn't found her dorm, and she was starving. She was able to find a coffee shop fairly quickly, and decided that it would have to suffice. She'd just slumped down at a table in the corner and was taking her first bite of the sandwich that she'd ordered (Wait why are there sandwiches at a coffee shop? _What you've never been to a coffee shop that sells sandwiches?_ No, I haven't; who even- _Shut up Armin's here!_) "Lost?" The blond asked, eyeing the duffel bag that sat at Jeanne's feet.

"No of course not." She responded, knowing full well she was being pathetically prideful.

"Mhm. Well, if you need any help finding your dorm, I can always help you." He set his coffee down and leaned slightly on the table, crossing his legs. Jeanne made a noise of dismissal and quickly changed the subject.

"So, tell me about your roommate." Armin knew that was her roundabout way of asking if she needed to "talk" to said roommate. He smiled a bit, remembering the exchange.

* * *

_Armin sighed as he set his bags on the far bed, immediately beginning to unpack his things. By the time the door opened again, signaling his roommate had come in, he'd already put all his clothes in his closet, and lined his shoes up on the ground inside, and was arranging his makeup in the bathroom. He poked his head out into the main room spotting the other instantly. He was big, tall and muscular, with short light blond hair and sharp icy blue eyes. Armin smiled slightly before introducing himself. "Hi, I'm Armin Arlert." He said, stepping out of the bathroom and offering his hand to the taller blond. _

_He watched as the other male took him in, his chin length goldenrod blond hair, his stormy blue eyes. Well, actually he was probably taking in the six-inch crimson red platform heels, and the makeup (crimson red lipstick [to match the heels] and grey-black gradient eye shadow [eyeliner and mascara too but they were made to be less noticeable]) and crimson nail polish, but whatever. _

_After a few moments of surprise and assessment the taller blond took Armin's hand and shook it firmly. "I'm Reiner Braun." He introduced himself. They both set on unpacking again after that, and Reiner said he was going to go find his boyfriend. Armin had smiled because he totally had the best gaydar on campus._

* * *

"He's great, really." He told Jeanne, and she nodded with a not-quite-convinced look in her eyes that took training to recognize. Armin, however, was trained and caught it immediately. "I'm serious! Come one, when have I ever lied to you?" Jeanne set her coffee down on the table with a bit more force than necessary and looked him dead in the eyes as she answered.

"You told me Lisa was nice."

"Lisa was nice!" He argued. Jeanne scoffed.

"Lisa is crazy Armin. Do you know where she went after she put me in the hospital? Juvenile Detention Center. Do you know where she is now? Prison, for _attempted murder._"

"Okay so I was wrong about Lisa, but please just trust me with this? He's a nice guy and if he ever gives me trouble I'll tell you I promise." Jeanne picked up her coffee again, taking a small sip.

"You better."

It took her almost an hour of searching after she left the coffee shop, but she finally found her dorm building, and, in turn, her dorm. It was a good size; there was a bed and desk on the side by the door, and one on the opposite wall. There were two closets on the wall to the left of the door, and a door on the right wall that presumably lead to a bathroom. That was nice; they had bathrooms in their dorms. There was predictably a bag on the bed opposite the door, and there was noise coming from the bathroom, which she assumed was her roommate.

She set her duffel on the empty bed and looked over at the stuff already set up on her roommate's side of the room. The wall was blank, and the bed had some plain dark blue sheets and a dark blue pillow situated on it. There was also a black duvet shoved more or less nicely on top of it. The closet door was closed, which probably meant the other girl had unpacked her clothes already. The desk had a notebook and some mismatched pens set on it, and the bag was half way under the bed for the time being. This girl appeared to be at least half-decent at organization, unlike Jeanne.

"Hey." She said casually as she began unpacking her clothes, and hanging them up in her closet. There was a clattering song from the bathroom, the girl probably dropped something, hopefully didn't break it, and then she was standing in the doorway leading into the room.

She was tall, very tall. Jeanne was pretty tall, but this girl had to have at least three inches on her. She had long black hair, reached about mid back, and freckles littering her face, neck, pretty much her entire body. She had a pirate-like patch over her right eye; her left one was a sweet honey brown color. She was smiling nervously, and pulling down the sleeve of her sweater on her right side ever so slightly. She was wearing a grey leather biking glove on that hand. Jeanne had to admit, she was pretty cute. No, scratch that, _very_ cute. "H-hi, I'm Margot. Margot Bodt." She had a faint Italian accent, which Jeanne found made her just that much cuter.

"Jeanne Kirschtein." She replied, offering her hand, which Margot took hesitantly, trying to avoid as much skin contact between their hands as possible.

They didn't talk after that. They both finished unpacking rather quickly, and Margot locked herself in the bathroom to take a shower. Jeanne sat on her bed checking her tumblr. When she heard Margot turn the water off in the bathroom she grabbed her camera and went out to take some pictures, deciding to give the girl some privacy.

They didn't really talk much to each other after that either. They exchanged greetings and made some organization agreements about where things would go in the bathroom, and that was it really. They weren't in the room at the same time very often aside from when they were sleeping. Their class schedules were different, Margot had a job; and Jeanne was out taking photos when she was in the dorm. When they were together they ignored the other one and went about whatever they were doing. It worked for them.

Of course nothings stays the same for long.

* * *

_**A/N:** I'm sorry this chapter is really short! The next chapter is too, but don't worry, chapter 3 is longer! I hope you like this, I've had the idea floating around in my head for a while so... About Armin being a crossdresser, umm...I've wanted to do this for a long time, and I did in another fic but I didn't like how I did it so I redid it here. (I'd apologize but I"m not sorry)_


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N:_**_ I thought I posted this the same day as the first chapter but apparently not. Oh well. (I've gotta got work on the next chapter now ugh)._

* * *

"Remind me again why you're majoring in drama and not political sciences or something?" Jeanne glanced over to where Armin was seated at his desk, going over, well, Jeanne wasn't entirely sure what it was he was looking at.

"Because I hate politics." He answered without looking up. Whatever he was looking at was apparently interesting.

"No, you hate all the stubborn assholes in politics who have no idea what they're doing even though they claim to be professionals." Jeanne countered. This time Armin did look up.

"Isn't that the same thing? Besides, I'm good at drama." Jeanne rolled her eyes and flipped on the bed so that nearly her entire torso was hanging off it, her short, purple-ish sandy blonde hair brushing the ground.

"Armin I would very much like for you to tell me one thing you're _not_ good at."

"Sports." Was the immediate response.

"Ah yes, the one thing I was better at than you in high school." She almost felt bad about the insufferably teasing smirk that accompanied her words.

"Oh shut up. You were on the rugby team."

"I was the captain of the rugby team!" She exclaimed with mock exasperation and shock.

"Yeah, until you beat up the quarterback." Jeanne threw a stray pillow at the blonde and glared indignantly.

"The asshole had it coming, messing with you like that. I still think you looked better in that skirt than his girlfriend looked in her homecoming dress." Armin snorted.

"Of course I looked better; she wore a burlap sack that barely reached dress code length, not to mention her boobs were practically falling out of it." Jeanne laughed at his description, but wasn't about to disagree with it. Of course that girl was welcome to wear whatever she pleased, and Jeanne knew the only reason she mocked the girl's choices at all were because she was a bitch who messed with Armin. (_When will people learn that most people don't actually care about what you're wearing they just insult it because you're a bitch? _I don't think that's how it works._ Excuse me, who dealt with the bitchy people at school? _Well— _That's what I thought.)_

"So, how's your roommate doing? Not too bothered by you I hope." Armin asked, changing the subject. Jeanne groaned; she knew what he was doing, and it wasn't going to work.

"Why are you so adamant about me getting a girlfriend? Why does it matter so much to you?" Armin turned back to his papers as he answered.

"You haven't had a girlfriend since freshman year of high school; it is time to start dating again." Jeanne threw her arm over her eyes and groaned again.

"We've been over this before, it was a traumatic experience and I do not want to go through it again."

"It was four years ago." She could almost physically feel the frown in his voice.

"It ended with me in the hospital and her in juvie!" She argued, making frantic signals/flails with her arms as she spoke. Armin groaned.

"Most relationships aren't like that Jeanne!"

"_Most!_" Armin brought a hand to his face.

"Why won't you let me find you a girlfriend? I have good judgment; I promise nothing like that will happen to you again!"

"You introduced me to Lisa!"

"I didn't set you up with her! All I did was introduce you!" If she tried she could count at least six times in the past two years they'd had this same exchange, and it always ended the same way, with Jeanne even more opposed to dating than she'd been at the beginning, and Armin even more determined to get her back into dating. This time of course, was no exception.

* * *

Armin had come to like the coffee shop he'd found Jeanne in on their first day there. It was airy, everything was all light colors and sweaters, and smelled like coffee and ice. (How does something smell like ice? _Don't question my descriptions, it smells like ice.)_ The customers were quiet enough, and the employees were nice. It probably helped that the coffee there was _amazing, _but the main reason he continued to come back was one of the girls who worked there, Margot her name was. He was absolutely determined to set her up with Jeanne.

She was quite possibly the nicest human being on the planet; she could rival even Christian with how kind she was. He'd noticed her the third time he'd been there, and had accidentally slipped into a conversation with her when she spilled coffee on him as she was leaving.

* * *

_ "O-oh my gosh I'm so sorry!" Margot exclaimed, holding her left hand over her mouth, her right hand hesitantly outstretched, fingers curled into themselves, hanging uselessly a few inches from where she'd spilled coffee on the blond man's dress. Armin silently thanked tumblr for his knowledge of how to remove stains and picked up the empty cup that had been lying by his feet. _

"_No, I'm sorry; I ran into you. You don't have to apologize." He almost couldn't help the sheepish smiled that appeared on his features, an identical smile slowly creeping onto the taller girl's face. _

"_S-sorry." She mumbled. Armin shook his head slightly and threw the cup away. _

"_Here, I'll buy you a new one." Margot's face flushed slightly under her makeup, Armin could tell. _

"_N-no I couldn't let you do that!" Her head was ducked slightly and her arms formed an almost undetectable X in front of her. Armin couldn't help noticing the lone leather biking glove on her right hand, a bit strange. He pushed the thought out of his head and turned slightly to walk back over to the counter._

"_Please, it's the least I can do. What did you order?" Margot pulled her bottom lip inward with her teeth for a few seconds before sighing and telling him what she'd ordered. Not two minutes later Armin was handing her a new coffee and her cheeks were burning under the makeup that, Armin noticed with slight amusement, stubbornly refused to cover her freckles. She lifted her hand to scratch the back of her head sheepishly, fiddling with the string of her eye patch. _

"_I-I'm really sorry about this." Armin shook his head and waved his hand in dismissal, giving her an encouraging smile this time. _

"_It's fine, really. I'm Armin by the way." He held his hand out, and after a few moments of obvious hesitation she reached out and shook it. The handshake was short and evasive, like she wanted to avoid contact as much as possible. Armin brushed it off as nerves. _

"_Margot." Her eyes were trained on his face, but not directly at his eyes; she obviously wasn't very good with people. _

"_Well Margot, sorry for running into you; enjoy your coffee." And with that he walked out of the coffee shop, leaving a flustered Margot clutching a quickly cooling coffee to her chest in his wake._

* * *

Most people would concern themselves with finding out if this girl were into women at all before attempting to set them up with their best friends; but, as previously stated, Armin had the best gaydar on campus. So when he found out she worked at this coffee shop he'd come to love so much, well he couldn't just let this opportunity pass him by now could he.

He sat determinedly in the shop until the end of Margot's shift, and stopped her as she was leaving, coffee in hand. He was careful not to run into her this time. "Hi Margot, can I talk to you for a second?" Margot traced her palm with her thumb instinctively, and let her eyes do that thing where they were trained on Armin's entire face but not his eyes.

"U-um, okay." Alright, maybe not the best way to start a conversation, but it had worked.

He led her in a random direction, following whatever sidewalk he happened to see first. He did that occasionally. Anyway they walked in silence for a few minutes before Armin turned to Margot. "So I have this friend," he started, knowing full well how it sounded, "and she uh…how do I put this?" He stumbled around his words until finally, "I was hoping you could help me out with something."

* * *

_**A/N: **I am so almost sorry for making Margot as awkward as I did but I think she's adorable so whatever. I don't have much to say. I hope y'all stick around because it's gonna get real funny real fast. (I hope, I don't know how good I am at humor I've never tried it before) (Not specifically at least)  
_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: **Holy crap there's like ten minutes 'til 2014! This could be better but I'm really sick of working this chapter at this point. Enjoy!_

* * *

"Please Jeanne?"

"No."

"_Please?_"

"No."

"_Pretty_ please?"

"_No._" Armin sighed and placed his hands on his hips, head tilting to the side a bit.

"Why not?"

"You know why!" Jeanne was buried in the blankets and duvets (_yes duvets as in plural_) of her bed.

"C'mon I already told her you'd do it!"

"You told her what?!"

"Well I knew if I didn't tell her that you wouldn't do it."

"I'm still not going to do it!"

"Just one date, how much damage can one date do?"

"A lot of damage Armin."

"You have not been on a date in four years you are doing this if I have to drag your ass to the restaurant and tie you to the chair." Jeanne's head shot up from the mess of her bed.

"Where the hell did you get that line?" Armin rolled his eye.

"Erin."

"Of course. How's she doing anyway?"

"Since when do you care how Erin's doing?"

"I don't, but it's better than talking about a date I'm _not going on._"

"You are going on this date."

"If you drag me you are dragging me in sweatpants and a sports bra. Do you want that?"

"If I can get Sasha into a fairy god mother dress I can get you into presentable clothing."

"Sasha would put on anything you wanted as long as you gave him food."

"Don't you underestimate me."

"Whatever, I'm not going."

* * *

Armin sighed as he looked at the price tags on the rack. "I swear if I could afford things like this I'd be prettier than Erin." Ymir snorted and clapped Armin on the shoulder.

"You're already prettier than Erin Hun. _But_, if you could afford that dress you might be prettier than Lani. Might." Now it was Armin's turn to snort.

"Ymir _Jennifer Lawrence_ isn't prettier than Lani. There's no way I'm ever going to be."

"Okay no, Jennifer and Lani are of equal levels of pretty." The brunette argued, sliding his arm around Christian's shoulders.

"Why do we even bring you shopping?"

"Because I'm a fun and interesting person." Christian smiled and rolled his eyes, pulling a similar (less expensive) dress from the rack, squinting a bit as he held it up.

"Here try this one." Armin took the dress and went back into the dressing rooms.

"Oh by the way, did you end up convincing Jeanne to go on that date yet?" Ymir called asked, leaning against the wall and fidgeting with the curtain of Armin's dressing room. He could almost hear the smirk in the blonde's words.

"Oh, she's going all right."

* * *

_Stupid goddamn weather; it's fucking October why it's not supposed to be snowing!_ Jeanne thought angrily to herself as she attempted to hunch further into her coat. She was thankful that the sidewalks had been shoveled, because she wouldn't be doing this if they weren't. She didn't care what ways Armin came up with to convince her, she wasn't trudging off campus through six inches of snow for a date she didn't even want to go on. She could've taken a bus or a cab yes, but Jeanne was uncomfortable on busses because of all the people, and she didn't trust cab drivers. So she walked everywhere. She didn't mind usually, it was good exercise, but hell if she was going anywhere with half a foot of snow on the ground.

She sighed in relief when she saw the sign for the restaurant, picking up her pace ever so slightly. She may not have wanted to go on this date, but the restaurant was inside, and therefore warm, so she swallowed all her distaste and pushed the door open, walking in quickly and pushing the door closed behind her.

As soon as she was in the door she was hit by the overwhelming scent of spices and beef. Okay, so at least Armin had picked a good restaurant. She walked three steps out of the entryway before she was stopped by one of the waitresses. "Table for one?" Jeanne had to resist the urge to gag at the girl's bubbly voice.

"Actually I'm waiting for someone." She explained as calmly as possible. The way girl's expression seemed to flicker from smothering happiness to confusion to condescension then back to smothering happiness made Jeanne want to punch her in the face and vomit at the same time.

"Oh? Well, right this way then." The girl failed to mask the condescending, almost confused air in her voice and movements, and Jeanne was two seconds and one more sentence from punching the girl.

After what seemed like minutes but was probably only around 30 seconds, she was sitting at a table, and the girl was gone. Finally. She sat idly twiddling her thumbs for a few minutes, and then she showed up. Tall, long black hair, eye patch, freckles… "M-Margot?" She chocked out, eyes wide. Margot's expression mirrored Jeanne's exactly, and it was a few moments before either of them made another move.

"Well this is unexpected." Margot mumbled, still standing, not sure what to do.

"You're telling me." Jeanne grumbled, slumping in her chair. She made a tiny motioning gesture for Margot to sit down, and closed her eyes. "Can we agree right now that this isn't a date, please?" She asked quietly, taking deep breaths. "Not that you don't seem nice or whatever, but I really didn't want to be here in the first place, and I really don't want to start out with you like that." Margot smiled a bit and nodded, not that Jeanne could see it.  
"Sure, I think that'd be best."

The rest of the evening went well; Jeanne managed to muster up enough tolerance for social interactions to have a civil conversation with Margot, and they discovered they got along rather well. Before they knew it, the restaurant was closing, and they were being asked to leave.

"I guess we might as well walk together, seeing as we're going to the same place." Margot said with a smile as she pulled on her jacket. Jeanne nodded and watched carefully as she slid the article over her shoulders.  
"It isv15º outside, how can you only wear that?" She asked incredulously. Margot shrugged.  
"The cold doesn't bother me. I like it." Jeanne shook her head but didn't say anything else on the matter as she shoved the door to the restaurant open, holding it for her companion. Margot laughed when Jeanne shivered and shoved her hands deeper into the pockets of her coat. Jeanne just scowled at her and the forest green corduroy of her jacket.  
"Don't laugh, it's not funny." Margot laughed a bit harder. Jeanne's scowl grew harsher.

"It kind of is." She the taller replied after a few moments.

They made it back to their dorm after an hour of trudging through the snow on what should have been a 30-minute walk. Margot unlocked the door, and Jeanne immediately shed her coat in favor of four sweatshirts and a blanket. Margot chuckled and sat down on her bed, taking her shoes off and grabbing a tank top, pajama pants, and a hoodie from the end of her bed, going into the bathroom to change.

Jeanne opened her laptop and pulled up her tumblr, scrolling through her dash until she heard the door to the bathroom open and her roommate appear. She had the hoodie zipped up halfway, and the sleeves were long enough that they covered all of her hands except her fingertips. She also hadn't taken off her makeup or eye patch. "You really gonna sleep in all that?" Jeanne asked skeptically. Margot nodded, and snuggled into her bed in a sitting position, picking up her book. Jeanne watched her for a few moments more, before shoving the questions out of her mind and turning back to her dashboard.

Jeanne called it quits at about 3:30 a.m. shutting down her laptop and crawling deeper into her bed, flipping onto her side so she was facing the rest of the room. She noticed Margot was facing away from her, hair splayed out on the bed behind her in a sort of waterfall sort of way. She still wore the hoodie, but she could faintly make out the outline of her eye patch on the desk. She studied the way the blankets ere pulled secure over her slender body, as if she was clutching them against her chest, shoulders hunched over slightly. It looked as if she was curled up in a loose ball shape, and her head appeared to be burrowed in the pillow. Jeanne fell asleep watching the way her body rose and fell with the steady breathing of slumber.

* * *

_**A/N: **Happy new year everybody! And expect a new chapter soon! I hope you're enjoying everything thus far. _


	4. Chapter 4

**_A/N:_**_ I feel like this took too long to do, but it's up now. I don't know why I added that conversation at the end, I could have easily ended the chapter without it. I don't even like it that much. Oh well. Enjoy!_

* * *

Jeanne did not like her mother. There had never been a point in her life that she had liked her mother, but there were times where she absolutely hated the woman. She could deal with the disappointed glances thrown her way when she thought she was looking. She could deal with the silence, but what she could not deal with, was her apology. After eighteen years, it was too late. She wasn't responsible for her anymore, and as such she'd left. Now the woman was trying to apologize for every shitty thing she'd done for the past eighteen years, just so she'd come home; and they'd have a daughter to present to their friends, not that they'd appreciate her coming home. They'd just yell at her to brush her hair over to both sides, wear less eyeliner, wear nicer clothes, and that was only when company was over. If they didn't have anyone to impress they'd simply ignore her. That was the way it'd always been; now was no different.

"Come home for the holidays, please Jeanne." Her mother pleaded, normally she wouldn't have even answered the call, but she was feeling generous. However not generous enough to even consider what her mother wanted.  
"Je vous ai dit non! Pourquoi voulez-vous encore que je revienne? Qu'est-ce que vous avez à gagner à moi rentrer à la maison?" (I told you no! Why do you even want me to come back? What do you have to gain from me coming home?) Whenever she was speaking to her parents and or her parents' friends she spoke purely in French, because she knew it pissed her parents off, and confused their friends.

"It's not about gaining anything! We miss you." Jeanne scoffed.

"Comme l'enfer que vous vous inquiétez. Vous voulez juste pour me montrer à vos amis. A peine que, vu que je suis "imprésentable"!" (Like hell you care. You just want to show me off to your friends. Barely that, seeing as I'm so "unpresentable"!) She was nearly shouting, but she couldn't be bothered to care.

"We do care about you honey, and you're very presentable, they just have different ideas of presentable than we do."

"Connerie. Vous ne donnez pas un rien au ce qui se passe pour moi. Vous n'auriez même pas m'appeler si vous avez eu un autre enfant! Eh bien devinez quoi, je ne suis pas de votre responsabilité plus. Ainsi, vous pouvez arrêter de me considérer votre enfant maintenant, tout comme vous avez vouliez faire pendant dix-huit ans." (Bullshit. You don't give a damn what happens to me. You wouldn't even be calling me if you had another kid! Well guess what, I'm not your responsability anymore. So you can stop considering me your child now, just like you've wanted to do for eighteen years.) She was near ready to strangle someone at this point. She'd always had a short temper when it came to her parents, especially when they pretended they cared about her. She knew they didn't give a shit about her, and she didn't have time for their bullshit.

"Jeanne we just want to see you. Please come home?"

"Pour la dernière fois, je ne reviendrai pas. Ne m'appelez pas encore, ou si, aidez-moi, je ne m'inquiète pas si vous êtes ma mère, je ferai en sorte que vous le regretterez pas." (For the last time, I'm not coming back. Do not call me again, or so help me I don't care if you are my mother I will make sure you regret it.) And then she hung up.

She plopped down on her bed, flinging her phone at the ground, not bothering to see if it was okay, and buried her face in the pillow. "Who was that?" Margot asked her from her own bed.

"My mom." She answered bitterly. "Well she was anyway."

"What did she want?"

"She wanted me to come home for Christmas."

"And you don't want to go?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because they only want me there so they can show me off."

"That sounds really shitty." Jeanne let out a soft, humorless laugh, and lifted her head to look at her roommate.

"It is." She sounded like someone who was giving up on something, someone who didn't care anymore. Maybe she didn't.

"So what are you going to do for the holidays?" Jeanne shrugged, shoving herself to lean on her elbows in the sea of sheets and duvets that engulfed her bed.

"Stay here probably. Armin's boyfriend Mikatao and his best friend Erin are probably going to come visit. They might bring Erin's girlfriend Lani with them but I'm not sure."

"I thought you were Armin's best friend." Jeanne let out another short laugh, but this one sounded bittersweet instead of dead.

"I wish. Erin and Armin are childhood friends; I met Armin in middle school when he decided that I was in desperate need of a makeover. Childhood friend trumps project."

"Projects get dumped as soon as they're fixed, you were not a project."

"I started out as a project, but we got closer when he moved in with me freshman year of high school." Margot shot Jeanne a look of confusion and curiosity, a silent question.

"That story is not mine to tell unfortunately, and I'd recommend you don't ask Armin about it. He'll tell you eventually." Margot nodded in understanding.

"So then you're not doing anything for the holidays?" She asked, going back to the original subject.

"Nah. Never much liked holidays much anyway. What about you?" Margot smiled sheepishly and tucked her hair behind her left ear.

"Well unless I can afford plane tickets to Italy I'm stuck here. It's fine though, there's always Skype."

"Must suck to not get to see your family for the holidays."

"It's fine. I went to high school here so I'm used to not seeing them."

"Guess that means we're both stuck here over break."

"Yeah."

"Well on the bright side you'll finally get to meet Armin's boyfriend, and Erin, but she's not important."

"You don't like Erin?"

"Like? We're like oil and water. We've never gotten along." This wasn't exactly the truth. Jeanne would never admit this to anyone, but she didn't mind Erin all that much. She considered them friends, in a weird way. They fought all the time, it was comical really, but if anything ever happened to her, you could be sure Jeanne would be right there to rearrange the face of anyone involved. (Along with Lani and Mikatao, while Armin silently and strategically ruined their life from the background. They did not take shit from anyone.) The same could be said on Erin's part.

There was a comfortable silence after that, Jeanne listening to music on 8tracks and attempting to sleep, Margot reading a book. After a while Margot went into the bathroom to shower, then reapply her makeup. Jeanne had noticed that she always slept in her makeup, never taking it off unless she was in the bathroom, and reapplying it before entering their room again. She had never seen Margot without her makeup on, and that was saying something. She'd been spending a lot of time with her lately, and by a lot, I mean _hours a day._ Not to mention they shared a 3x5 notecard sized dorm.

After putting away her makeup, the tall ravenette unlocked the bathroom and grabbed the same forest green corduroy jacket she wore everyday. "Going somewhere?" Jeanne asked, twisting around and craning her neck to look at the girl making her way to the door.

"Work." She answered, slipping her ancient Nokia candybar phone into her back pocket.

"Don't catch the flu." Jeanne called as the door slug closed.

"Yeah yeah." She heard Margot call over her shoulder as the lock clicked.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't just want me to come to Shinganshina? I mean it would be a lot easier for me to come to you right?" Armin asked, and he could nearly hear Erin's almost-smile on the other end.

"It's fine Armin. Mikatao and I are going to meet you in Trost, and we're going to bring Lani with us too."

"Why is Lani coming?"

"Because all her friends are going back home for the holidays so she has nothing better to do, according to her."

"Alright, but where are you going to stay? I mean, the dorms here are the size of notecards. They barely fit two people."

"Will you calm down? We'll figure something out, maybe stay with Ymir and Christian."

"You're sure you'll be alright?"

"_Yes Armin_. We're going to be fine, see you in a week."

"See you, bye." And that was the end of that phone call.

* * *

_**A/N:** The argument between Jeanne and her mother was really fun to write. Also I apologize if any of the French is wrong, I have only a year and a half of French class under my belt so I used google translate. If you find any mistakes in it feel free to tell me and I'll fix it right away. Next chapter is on it's way so stay tuned._


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